Eileen Cook - Create Story Conflict: How to increase tension in your writing & keep readers turning pages

A note about spelling

The three founding members of The Creative Academy for Writers live in Canada, and we made a conscious decision to use Canadian spellings throughout our book series. Becausewellits who we are, eh?!

Like most writers, I started as a reader. I would go to the library every week with my parents to check out a huge stack of books. When I realized that someone was responsible for making up those stories, I knew that was what I wanted to do. I got in the habit of running my finger down the shelves to the place where my (as yet completely unwritten) book would go. Then Id jam my hand in there and shove the books on either side over a bit to make room for me. One day there was already a space made. The childrens librarian came over and whispered, Dont worry, Im saving room for you.

She was one of the first people to believe in my dream of being a writer.

We writers need someone to believe in our dream and hold us up when we feel like letting go. Choosing to write takes courage. Courage to continue to try when the words wont come. Courage to share your work with others and invite their feedback. Courage to send it off into the world, through agents and editors or by indie publishing your story. The bad news is that the world has too many people who will tell you your dream is foolish and, instead of encouraging you, will go out of their way to discourage you. Its easier for them to tear down someone elses dream than to work toward one of their own. So you need to surround yourself with the right people.

Thats why we started The Creative Academy for Writers. We wanted to create a place that fostered big dreams for writers and at the same time provided practical guidance to reach them. We wanted to build a community of like-minded people, offer encouragement and practical support, and assist people in taking the next steps on their writing journey. We wanted to be that voice in your ear that says you got this when you feel like you very much dont.

This book is a part of that journey for you. If you arent already a member, we hope youll consider joining us online at The Creative Academy for Writers. Its free (yes, you read that right) and a community is always stronger when it grows to include great people. And dont worrywere making some space on the shelves for you. Theres always room.

Conflict is tricky. Most of us dont like it and tend to avoid it. Others love it and fire up their rage machine at every opportunity. (It is possible social media was created simply to give those people somewhere to hang out.) This book is designed to help you understand conflict and ramp it up on the page because like it or not, conflict is vital for a novel.

In this book Ill talk about why conflict is so important, explain different kinds of conflict, and give you some practical ways to increase it in your book. Its up to you to decide how conflict will impact your story, and youll see that Im not someone who believes there is only one right way to do anything. Please take and use what is most helpful for you in this process. If you join us in the Creative Academy youll see Ive been talking about conflict for a long time. There is a masterclass and may office hours recordings to work through if you want to listen to me talk about it as well! You can access those (along with the other supplementary resources for this book) at: https://creativeacademyforwriters.com/resources/createstoryconflict

Im a rule follower. I like to-do lists. I like checking things off. However, hold on to your hatsthere are no rules with this book. Ive written with the idea that youll read it from front to back, but if you are the kind of rebel who likes to skip around, I wont stop you. (However, if you are the kind of person who skips to the end of the novel to read the conclusion first, I will reserve a tiny smidge of judgment. But I promise to keep it to myself.) You may enjoy reading through the book first and then going back to complete only the exercises that work for you. Or you might be the kind of person who will break this book into chunks and tackle what is most important to you at the moment. If some exercises feel pointless to you, consider yourself free from any obligation to complete them. However, in the interests of challenging you to grow, I would ask that before you skip something, take a moment to think about why your instinct is to skip it.

Throughout the book I discuss different aspects of conflict and then provide Your Turn sections where you can apply that topic or idea to your own writing. Between you and me, these prompts are where the real value lies.

As one who owns about one zilliontythis is a technical math term I made upwriting craft books, I know they serve two purposes. Both purposes are useful, but one is significantly more beneficial. The first value of a craft book is to introduce you to a concept or, in many cases, remind you of a concept. The second value, however, is to give you the opportunity put that concept into action. You apply it to your writing, and in the course of using it, youll discover what changes it can make to your creative process and manuscript. Thinking about stuff is gooddoing things is better.

Do not panic that there is more work to do than you could ever complete. You do not need to do every single exercise in this book, and Im certain that some wont seem to work for you at all. I promise I will not be checking your homework.